Shafaq Zafar, Amber Javaid, Farzana Salman, Amir Zaman, Mohsina Haq, Muhammad Khurram.
Effect of pregnancy and demography on susceptibility pattern of azole antifungal agents against clinical isolates of candida species recovered from vulvovaginal candidiasis patients.
J Med Sci Jan ;28(1):76-80.

Objective: To determine the in vitro susceptibility of vaginal Candida species isolates retrieved from both pregnant and non-pregnant vaginal candidiasis patients belonging to urban and rural areas of Peshawar against commonly used azole antifungal agents.Material and Method: Susceptibility assays were performed on isolates collected and differentiated.40 isolates were recovered from 50 pregnant and 50 non-pregnant (urban=25 and rural=25) vulvovaginal candidiasis patients, 28 isolates from preg-nant women (urban=22 and rural=6) and 12 isolates from non-pregnant women. (urban=10 and rural=2) were retrieved.Results: Overall susceptibility order of test agents in urban population was clotrimazole>ketoconazole=fluconazole>i-traconazole. In rural population it was clotrimazole>itraconazole>ketoconazole however fluconazole showed highest resis-tance. Overall susceptibility order of test agents in pregnant patients was clotrimazole>ketoconazole>fluconazole>itracon-azole. While in non-pregnant patients it was clotrimazole>itraconazole>fluconazole, whereas ketoconazole showed highest resistance.Conclusion: All strains from urban as well as rural population were susceptible to clotrimazole. Isolates from urban and rural areas showed extreme resistance against itraconazole andfluconazole respectively. The most susceptible drug in pregnant vaginal candidiasis patients was clotrimazole while itraconazole remained highly resistant. While in non-pregnant patients C.albicans was mildly susceptible to clotrimazole, however, ketoconazole and fluconazole remained highly resistant.

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